The recent research progress made in the speaker’s research laboratory on wind turbine aeromechanics and wake interferences among multiple wind turbines sited in onshore and offshore wind farms will be introduced. The experimental studies are conducted in a large-scale Aerodynamic/Atmospheric Boundary Layer (AABL) Wind Tunnel available at Iowa State University. An array of scaled wind turbine models are placed in atmospheric boundary layer winds with different mean and turbulence characteristics to simulate the situations in onshore and offshore wind farms. The effects of the spacing between turbines, turbine array layout, and terrain topology of wind farms on the turbine performances and the wake interferences among multiple wind turbines are investigated in detail. In addition to measuring dynamic wind loads (both forces and moments) and the power outputs of the model turbines, a high-resolution Particle Image Velocity (PIV) system is used to conduct detailed flow field measurements to quantify the characteristics of the turbulent wake vortex flows and the wake interferences among the wind turbines sited over a flat (baseline case) and hilly terrains with non-homogenous surface winds. The detailed flow field measurements are correlated with the dynamic wind loads and power output measurements to elucidate underlying physics for higher total power yield and better durability of the wind turbines in atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) winds.

The speaker’s recent work on quantifications of the important micro-physical processes pertinent to wind turbine icing phenomena by leveraging an icing wind tunnel available at Iowa State University will also be introduced briefly for more accurate prediction of glaze ice accretion on wind turbine blades as well as for the development of effective anti-/de-icing strategies tailored for wind turbine icing mitigation and ice protection.